There are few things more important to me than my friendships. In general, I consider myself a friendly person, and there are many people that I deal with who I would say I’ve got a pleasant but casual relationship with, and a few special people who I consider genuine pick-up-the-phone-anytime friends. They are hard-won, and even if I don’t get a chance to see all of them as often as I’d like, they are important to me.

One of the reasons I take those relationships so seriously is because I know how rare they are, and I know how uncommon new ones can be. The worst feeling for me is when things shift, when one friendship starts to crowd out another. It’s happened in my life, and it’s never something calculated or intentional. It’s just evolution, the way things happen, and it can hurt when it happens. “Frances Ha,” the latest film by Noah Baumbach, mines that material in a very smart way, and with a very different voice, so does “This Is The End.”

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have a storytelling voice that I like enormously. Both “Superbad” and “Pineapple Express” are movies I enjoy top to bottom, and watching them navigate the offers and opportunities that have come to them, and even the projects that I think are less successful are choices that make perfect sense, and I think their approach is always recognizably theirs. That is not easy to do working inside the system, and it feels to me like they’ve been working their way up to “This Is The End,” a summation of everything they’ve done so far.

At first glance, the film looks like an inside joke that they somehow talked Sony into making, but that’s not really the film they’ve made. Yes, Seth Rogen stars as Seth Rogen, and Jay Baruchel stars as Jay Baruchel, and Jonah Hill and Danny McBride and Craig Robinson and James Franco all play themselves, and there is a big laundry list of celebrities playing themselves in supporting roles, and there are some jokes in this movie that are so inside that I’m surprised they made the final cut. What that does, though, is guarantee that the relationships in the film are real, even though these guys aren’t playing the real versions of themselves.

The reason this feels like a sort of wrap-up to an entire stage of all of these careers is because much of the humor relies on a knowledge of all of the ways these guys have overlapped in the past. Going all the way back to “Freaks and Geeks,” everything they’ve ever been in plays into this in terms of defining who they are to each other. Seth is the lynchpin here, the guy who is caught between friends, with Jay Baruchel representing his life in Canada, his younger days, the part of him that just wants to play videogames and smoke weed and hang out all day. Then there’s Franco and Jonah, his LA friends, the ones he works with, the ones who own houses and work constantly and who are his creative peers at this point. As the film opens, Jay is just arriving in town for a visit, and as always, he’s all set to stay with Seth. The two of them are getting along great until Seth suggests a trip to Franco’s for a housewarming party. Immediately, it’s obvious that Jay doesn’t want to go to an industry party. He’s not comfortable with it. He doesn’t like the people, and he doesn’t like Seth when he’s around them.

The Franco we meet here is slightly obsessed with Seth, with artwork in his house that suggests a deep and abiding love, and Jonah is this uber-sweet guy who is worried about the way Jay feels when he’s around them. Jonah tries to make Jay feel included, while Franco just wants Seth to be dazzled by his party and his house and his art and everything else. Over the course of the party, there is a barrage of jokes and appearances and short bits. Look for the “Superbad” reunion with Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse all sharing a scene, for example. It’s funny stuff, and, yes, there’s something of a wink to the idea of casting Michael Cera as a coked-up Rihanna-grabbing loud mouth piece of sex-crazed trash, just as many of the cameos play some sort of twist on who these people really are, but all of it is meant to sort of justify Jay’s position.

In the middle of the party, he takes a walk with Seth, and just as the film really starts to hit some emotional truths, the world ends. And when I say it ends, I mean things get straight up crazy. i don’t want to tip the true nature of what happens, particularly since part of what follows is the ongoing debate between the characters about what’s going on, but from the moment it begins, “This Is The End” reveals some genuinely serious thematic concerns lurking beneath that lunatic surface, and as things get awful, the film starts to test these characters and their… well, their character. As Craig Robinson puts it, “We just get paid to act like we’re hard… but we’re not! We’re soft! We’re soft as baby shit!” If the end of the world ever does roll around, I’d try to fall back on whatever survival skills I learned as a Boy Scout, and I would be shocked if I lasted a full week. Actors at a certain level of success live inside a self-made bubble, and part of the film’s concerns have to do with popping that bubble and seeing what these guys are really made of.

More than that, though, the film wrestles with what happens when you take stock of your life and you realize that you come up short as a person. If the whole world as judged and you found yourself in the “loser” column, what would that do to you as it sank in? How could you live with that? And once you learned it, would there be anything you could do about it? What makes “This Is The End” special is the way they grapple with some very real ideas while they still keep piling on the comedy. There are some amazing set pieces in the film, including an extended sequence involving Jonah Hill that may be the most wonderfully weird thing we’ll see in a theater this year, an introduction for Danny McBride that is bigger and better than Jay Gatsby’s intro in Baz Luhrmann’s film, a bit involving Emma Watson that grapples with one of the squirmiest conventions of the genre, and a third act that is so gleefully bananas that I can’t imagine a studio saying yes to it. This is one of those films that only gets made because someone is heavily cashing in on not just one track record but a whole fistful of them, and it feels to me like every one of these guys knows how special this one is. There’s a moment during the stretch of film where the guys are settling into the daily rhythm of life after the end of the world where they do something to entertain themselves, and while it’s a big joke about their careers, it’s also oddly touching, a reconnection to the simple pleasure of doing something not for money or because it’s a good career move or because of what it earns you, but simply because it makes your friends laugh. It is a way to forget the terrible things out there, if only for a moment, and there’s something very genuine and even beautiful about what could easily have been a moment of shameful self-indulgence. Since the film is ultimately about what we get from those key friendships in our lives and how we have to take care of them, the moment speaks volumes, and it serves to remind them as well as us that before these are collaborators or professionals or movie stars, these are friends.

For a movie that contains some insane violence, some crazy monsters, and more on-screen wang than I’ve seen from a studio movie in quite a while, “This Is The End” is also, improbably, one of the sweetest films of the summer, and it lands with a resonance I didn’t expect. On a technical level, the film feels very modestly budgeted, with just a few big moments where it looks like they wisely spent all their money. Brandon Trost’s photography sets a great tone and doesn’t really look like a studio comedy. The gore and the monsters are all top-notch, and genre fans shouldn’t worry about this being toothless. These guys obviously subscribe to the idea that you can find laughs in the extreme, and in the worst of who we are, but they also find heart among the horrible, and while they can certainly play the worst, it’s good to see that they also believe we are capable of the best. I can’t wait to see where all of these guys go from here, and I feel like when we look back at the long story of all of these performers, this is going to be a key part of that story.
“This Is The End” opens June 12, 2013.

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When I was a teenager in the Eighties we had gratuitous female nudity even in movies like 16 Candles, not to mention the whole sex comedy genre like Porky’s or Revenge of the Nerds. Phoebe Cates has been thought of as a sex symbol for over 30 years(!) based on ONE scene.

Now, the only nudity that’s allowed is wang. Lots and lots of wang. Because to expose the female body to the “hetero male gaze” (as a very, VERY angry feminist screeched at me repeatedly in a discussion of female characters in videogames) would be SEXIST and contribute to RAPE CULTURE and all that politically correct garbage. Perhaps burquas for women will fix that and the crybabies will be satisfied.

By: CinemaPsycho

06.01.2013 @ 6:58 AM

I don’t disagree with you one bit. Just one thought:

Do feminists actually go to these kind of movies? Don’t they know to stay away by now? It’s not like actresses aren’t willing to do nudity. I just watched the most recent Harold & Kumar movie, and that had some breasts in it. The world didn’t come to an end, as far as I know. Also, porn still exists and isn’t going away any time soon. Isn’t it time for them to just accept that some women are willing to show their bodies on screen, and that’s their choice and that’s an acceptable thing in society? Isn’t it THEIR right to show THEIR BODIES if they choose to? Let’s get over it, shall we? It’s not like rape will end if there’s no more female nudity in R-rated movies. Give me a fucking break.

By: CinemaPsycho

06.01.2013 @ 7:02 AM

Also, rape existed before R-rated movies featuring nudity, and before porn. One thing has NOTHING to do with the other. Let’s use some fucking common sense here. There, I said it. Now GET OVER IT.

By: Max

06.02.2013 @ 5:45 PM

Feminists the world bitch and moan whenever a tit is on screen, this is true. But, have you seen some of these women? Holy shit. I would actually pay them to put their clothes back on. You hardly ever see an attractive woman complain about being objectified. I wonder why that is?

By: Simon

06.04.2013 @ 2:07 PM

@DEFREF
“There’s no boobs in movies anymore”. Have you been to the movies the last few years? Sure, maybe it’s less than in the eighties, but for every single American studio movie that shows a dick, I could name at least twenty with boobs.

Also the angry strawman feminist argument is terrible. I had a discussion with a very very angry men’s rights advocate who screamed at me that women shouldn’t even participate in discussion about gender, because they’re way too emotional.

Also, sorry about your latent homosexuality as evidenced by your focus on the maybe three dicks in movies this year.

By: ABRON

06.07.2013 @ 5:19 AM

Seriously? The “male gaze” isn’t about female nudity at all, its about the treatment of women throughout the film. Feminist filmmakers use female nudity constantly, the problem is simply empowerment vs exploitation. Let’s ignore the fact that female nudity is still a far more massive part of films than male nudity, and that female pleasure is still considered taboo, and complain about the growing minority of feminists who are worried about the depiction of the female body. Not to mention that there’s a clear problem if you can’t handle one film with more male nudity than female. Rape culture and patriarchy have definitely been destroyed, and men are definitely being oppressed if male nudity is now featured in films. Give me a break.

By: DefRef

06.07.2013 @ 5:27 AM

Wow, ABRON, did a woman have a pair of Vice-Grips on your junk while you typed out that self-hating, politically-correct codswallop or are you just an emasculated product of the university system trying to impress a hirsute member of the opposite (or same, whatever) sex?

By: ABRON

06.07.2013 @ 7:39 AM

Wow, way to assume I’m a guy. And to confuse “correct” with “politically-correct” and really just entirely fail to at all respond to my complaint in order to attack the imaginary person you’ve created in your head. There’s a large difference between an articulate complaint and a need to be purposefully offensive. But thanks for equating pro-feminist with emasculated, and seriously proving yourself dated with everything you’ve written. Sorry to do this here Drew, the trolls have been swarming around lately.

By: DefRef

06.07.2013 @ 8:14 AM

I had a 50/50 chance in my response: You were either a feminized castrati eunuch male or a bitter militant feminist womyn (with a Y because using an A or E would be selling out to millenniums of patriarchal enslavement!) and I hedged and went for the former. Oh well. I’d think you’d be happy that I’d guessed you were a mewling male rather than a screeching harridan, but then again I get the impression you aren’t happy much, or won’t be until all men are vanquished from the planet.

The use of male nudity in comedies is usually insipid. The presence of wang/dick/junk/cock/tallywacker/schlong/that thing ABRON hates is always handled in a sniggering (note: not a racist word!) manner: “Huhuhuhuhuhuh, you can see his dick, Beavis.” We’re not talking the way tubby guys give up the John Thomas in Peter Greenaway films or super-buff gladiators give equal time in the Spartacus TV series. It’s always just a guy’s dick on screen from Ken Jeong in all the Hangover movies to Jason Segal in Forgetting Sarah Marshall to whoever that was in Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (wheee! quadruple entendre!) to some recent flick that escapes me where there was an extended scene where the only joke was that wang.

The coy handling of nudity from both sexes has always been a problem, from the guy who doesn’t give up as much goods as the women (e.g. Basic Instinct) to “L-shaped sheets” which cover up the woman to her chin to my current pet peeve, the fully-dressed stripper (or it’s sister, wearing a bra during sex) because the actress doesn’t do nudity like Natalie Portman in Closer or Jennifer Aniston in the new We’re The Millers. Actresses always burble about how they won’t do “gratuitous nudity; it has to be essential to the character.” Uh, you’re playing someone who gets naked for a living. How much more essential can it be?

There are a lot of unhealthy sexual attitudes on display in these replies. Because our culture is simultaneously hypersexualized AND prudishly repressed and indoctrinated, a lot of people are confused, frustrated and violently angry at the doublethink they’re attempting. ABRON’s rage clearly comes from trying to pull off this pretzel logic, “Sex is empowering and there shouldn’t be slut-shaming and people shouldn’t be prevented from expressing their desires and STOP LOOKING AT ME WITH YOUR RAPEY HETERO MALE GAZE YOU FASCIST MAN-PIG!!!” You must be fun at parties.

BTW, I find it hilarious that while I’m under attack for my blunt views the choice insult is that I’m suffering from “latent homosexuality.” Gee, are you saying that being gay is a bad thing or that because I’m gay, I don’t like seeing dicks which makes absolutely no sense at all? (I’m guessing that SIMON is one of those 12-year-old brats who makes Xbox Live a wasteland because of his constant screaming of racist and homo-baiting comments.)

Parting thought: The fact that many people are terrified to even discuss such issues because they know that bully boys and shrieking girls will descend upon them for their apostasy and howl them into submission (like is vainly being attempted against moi) shows how messed up our society is. You can’t have these contradictory and arbitrary mores that shift at random without causing people to crack up.

By: ABRON

06.08.2013 @ 8:21 AM

You have got to be kidding me. Stop making an ass out of yourself. Only one of us is exhibiting rage and it’s not me. You’re the one who can’t handle even the potential equality of women, and apparently hate the entire gender along with anyone who defends it. I hate misogynists, men are fine. I’m sorry the humorous treatment of dicks has you so a flutter. Oh god no, a joke towards men, how ever will males survive? Maybe ask why so many female roles require nudity? Mostly, stop hallucinating people coming after you, and stop attributing their characteristics to me. If anyone’s howling it is most certainly you, and your absurd attacks are what makes it impossible for anyone to talk about such issues. I like and respect both men and women, you insult all humans with your diatribes. With that, I’m done. You certainly didn’t dignify the response I gave, and you definitely don’t deserve any further acknowledgement. The sad thing is that a discussion regarding the problematic treatment of both male and female bodies, and of society’s attitude towards them, could have been possible with the use of civilized discourse.

By: DefRef

06.08.2013 @ 10:28 PM

I read your unhinged diatribe to my girlfriend and after she stopped laughing, she remarked, “Someone’s on the rag. Tell her I said so.” Message delivered; her words, not mine.

I can’t imagine what is causing so much pain and rage that it causes you to act out your self-loathing and hatred against men who don’t hate themselves, but it’s clear a mature discussion of films and the use of nudity within them is impossible because you view the world through a prism of angry victimhood. You are your own oppressor. Maybe one day you’ll be well enough to look back at this angry time and feel embarrassed for your screeching outbursts, but today isn’t that day.

By: Simon

06.09.2013 @ 5:32 PM

“MY GIRLFRIEND!”. Just give up dude. You started this with complaining that the only nudity allowed these days is dicks, which even you know is complete bullshit.

By: Simon

06.09.2013 @ 5:37 PM

Also, I’m not saying being gay is bad or in any way devalues a person. Just that you saying “why do all movies have dicks??” while there’s maybe two a year suggests you’re kinda fascinated with other men’s penises. That’s fine!

By: T

06.12.2013 @ 5:39 AM

I just had to say that there is female nudity in almost every movie that’s rated R, and name more that 5 movies with “wang” in it… Not including there sequels. When there’s a hard penis in a movie then maybe the whining will make sense

By: c

06.22.2013 @ 2:41 PM

Dewey Cox, bruno, jack ass (pick any), eastern promises, sarah marshall, hall pass, wander lust, sex and the city, observe and report, any given sunday….. thats well over 5 and there are more.

Many of those are in graphic close up for long duration. Cable tv is worse with spartacus, rome and shameless being extremely graphic while oz actually showed a guy urinating in full view. And the female reciprication of genital nudity is virtually non existent. Always covered my merkins, poor lighting or bizarre poses.

That makes the argument that “by nature of the genitals you will not see any female genital nudity unless her legs are intentionally spread” all the more preposterous. Why go through the trouble of hiding it if we theoretically cannt see it anyway? Male genital nudity far outweighs female genital nudity.

About the only exception to hollywoods apparent complete ban of the vulva or more is Rosario Dawson from Trance and even in that she walked awkwardly to hide things. Basic instinct really didnt even show anything.

By: mmcb105

05.31.2013 @ 5:22 PM

Fantastic review. It actually got me very pumped to see this movie. In a way, it seems like Rogen, Goldberg and the rest are taking a page from the Wright/Pegg/Frost handbook here, by using sci-fi and horror trappings to ultimately reveal some real human truths. Its weird that they had some similar ideas, but I think what will set them apart is the celebrity angle that is emphasized in this movie.

Again, great read.

Thanks Drew.

By: That Werewolf Guy

05.31.2013 @ 5:45 PM

I don’t know. I still think that “celebrities play exaggerated (often asshole) versions of themself” is the most overused joke of our time, thanks to shows like EXTRAS or ENTOURAGE, the HAROLD & KUMAR movies and all 80s and 90s sitcoms with William Shatner and Adam West as guest stars.

By: GRubi

05.31.2013 @ 6:45 PM

Cue the obligatory dumb ass comments about you being paid to write a positive review.

By: velocityknown

05.31.2013 @ 8:15 PM

You beat me to it.

By: Dave Dorris

05.31.2013 @ 9:30 PM

Wait, am I on the wrong site? I thought that was the “other one”.

By: Kyle Fuller

05.31.2013 @ 6:54 PM

I have a gut feeling that this may be one of the big box office stories of the summer. It just feels like this is going to be one of those $200 million dollar out of left field movies, a la Ted last summer. I could be wrong, it may be too niche, but, I think people are going to turn out, and if word of mouth is as positive as Drew’s review, I think it will happen.

By: Whodatninja

05.31.2013 @ 8:01 PM

Nah

By: CinemaPsycho

06.01.2013 @ 7:06 AM

I don’t understand why they are opening this against Man of Steel. Don’t both movies appeal to the so-called “geek audience”? I think it’s a bad move. And they really should be hyping this movie, like NOW. What are they waiting for?

By: CinemaPsycho

06.01.2013 @ 7:06 AM

I don’t understand why they are opening this against Man of Steel. Don’t both movies appeal to the so-called “geek audience”? I think it’s a bad move. And they really should be hyping this movie, like NOW. What are they waiting for?

By: CinemaPsycho

06.01.2013 @ 7:07 AM

Sorry, don’t know where that second post came from.

By: DAGOBAH

06.03.2013 @ 5:21 PM

I hope you’re right and I’m wrong, Kyle Fuller, because this is my #1 anticipated film of the summer…

But I get the feeling this year’s Hangover/Bridesmaids/Ted comedy box office success is going to be The Internship. Fox is spending a tonne of money on their campaign in pretty much every demographic there is.

By: Whodatninja

05.31.2013 @ 8:03 PM

It’ll make more money in this country than Simon Pegg’s similarly themed movie but I’ll bet the Shaun of the Dead’s crew put out a better finished product.

By: KristopherTapley

05.31.2013 @ 11:13 PM

This movie is A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

By: jeves23

05.31.2013 @ 11:58 PM

Looking forward to this one – some great talent involved, and the fact that it isn’t just one big in-joke makes me all the more excited to see it.

By: JonnyP

06.01.2013 @ 12:25 AM

I have no idea if this thought is accurate, but I really feel like these guys are all pretty funny people to be around outside of their roles, etc. I think the idea that they are actually fun “normal” guys is what can make this premise work.

By: Jake

06.01.2013 @ 2:58 PM

I’m sold. But I’m curious of the entirety of the Emma Watson bit was spoiled in the trailer. I need to stop watching trailers.

Unbelievably moronic movie. The fact that people, a lot of people, apparently, like this scum proves the overriding concept of the band Devo. We passed the high end of the civilization curve a very long time ago.